The board of Fortune Bay has approved the completion of a preliminary economic assessment (PEA) for its Goldfields gold project, in northern Saskatchewan, building a foundation for the future development of the project.

The TSX-V-listed company appointed Ausenco Engineering Canada to lead the study, with SRK Consulting to complete an updated mineral resource estimate and Moose Mountain Technical Services to undertake mine design and mine planning.

The scope of work comprises two phases, the first of which will focus on the mine-to-mill optimisation and the second phase on the PEA.

The PEA will be completed early in the fourth quarter of 2022.

A previous prefeasibility study was completed for Goldfields in October 2011, which is considered historical in accordance with NI 43-101. The planned PEA is expected to incorporate mining and processing scenarios for which the PFS-level data do not yet exist and will be based upon an updated mineral resource estimate.

The current estimate for Goldfields, effective March 15, 2021, includes indicated mineral resources of 975 000 oz of gold and inferred mineral resources of 176 000 oz of gold.

A Phase 1 drilling programme was completed in 2021 to start the expansion of the mineral resources at the Box and Athona gold deposits, which included highlights of 13.22 g/t over 8.0 m, 8.74 g/t over 5.0 m, 8.00 g/t over 12.0 m, and 8.00 g/t over 4.0 m.